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Adkins is the governor Kentucky deserves

As this year’s primary election season enters its final days, I want to take this opportunity to voice my strong support for Rocky Adkins, a great friend who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor.
I’ve known Rocky for years and have worked with him as Nicholasville’s mayor and now as a fellow member in the Kentucky House of Representatives. Throughout this time, he has never hesitated to do all he can to help the community I proudly call home.
Even on the very day he declared for governor in Morehead, and with a winter storm approaching, he found a way to make it to Jessamine County for his first official campaign stop. Others might have hesitated, but he never did.
His willingness to treat our region as well as his own in Eastern Kentucky symbolizes why Rocky would be an ideal governor. He’s not about helping some over others; in fact, he has a vision for all of the Commonwealth, and he can bring together urban, suburban, and rural interests better than anyone I know. He can relate just as well with a corporate CEO in a high-rise office building as he can with a farmer tending cattle.
A quick look at Rocky’s legislative record shows that he knows how to make government work for all of us.
Perhaps the best example of that is his Tourism Development Act, an innovative tax-incentive program that was used to build or expand such well-known projects as the Newport Aquarium, Kentucky Speedway and the Bourbon Trail. The overall economic impact of this single law is measured in the billions of dollars.
Rocky is also known throughout the South for his leadership on energy issues; he has been a tireless advocate for those still hurting from the Great Recession and the downtown in the coal industry; and he champions causes designed to build up, not tear down, working men and women.
As a cancer survivor, he truly understands the critical importance of having a strong and affordable healthcare system. Efforts by the current administration to restrict access for thousands of Kentuckians puts those jobs at risk and makes it that much tougher for Kentucky to improve its too-high rates of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. It also undermines our work to tackle the opioid epidemic.
A top priority of Rocky’s is finding ways to do even more for our public schools and universities. Rather than rob them of resources, as misguided programs like for-profit charter schools would do, he is pushing to make community and technical college tuition-free, something several other states have shown is the right approach to take.
His work on behalf of education includes treating teachers with the dignity and respect they deserve. He also believes strongly that a pension is a promise, for teachers as well as all others who pay into a state retirement system.
Not long after Rocky announced he was running, I spoke with former Governor Paul Patton, another leader from Eastern Kentucky who remains the hardest-working governor of my lifetime. Patton told me that Rocky is the only person he knew who would work even harder.
That’s not something Patton would say lightly, and I have no doubt that it’ll prove to be true, if Rocky wins the primary on May 21 and then the general election on November 5.
I urge you to join with me and many, many others to make that possible. I promise it’s a decision that you – and future generations – will never regret.

State Rep. Russ Meyer
Nicholasville

Bevin puts Kentucky first

Gov. Matt Bevin is always so quick to place blame on others but has not proven that he is working towards what is best for Kentucky and its citizens. His attacks on specific groups in our communities have done nothing to increase the publics’ sense of cohesiveness or belonging. From public educators, to pro-choice groups, to gun safety groups, the Governor seems to go out of his way to divide Kentuckians and alienate voters. It is time for Kentucky to elect a leader that can bring us together on the issues that are important to us all, helping us devise resolutions and compromises that are beneficial to Kentucky communities, economy and the future success of our state. Fiscal and social responsibility have fallen by the wayside throughout Bevin’s term and it is time to get back to making Kentucky first, and the greed of corrupt politicians needs to be reined in.

Tymory Stanton
Wilmore